Developer of a good game on Steam escalates in patch notes, is banned from his own forum, now wants a duel

On August 21, 2022By Garmin Philip

On the PC platform Steam, the person behind the gladiator simulation “Domina” uses the patch notes to spread his political views. This has negative consequences for him: In addition to lousy reviews from alienated players, he has now also been banned from the Steam forum for his own game. Valve clearly threatens to kick him and his game off Steam.

What kind of game is this?

Domina is a €20 gladiator management sim on Steam that was released on April 3rd, 2017.
The reviews are actually “mostly positive” (78% positive). Critics also acknowledge that the game was developed with dedication.
Lately, however, many critical reviews have come in because of the toxic and aggressive behavior of the man behind the game. He uses the patch notes to spread controversial views.

GameStar even calls the game “terrific”:

Patch notes are suddenly about OnlyFans, squandered seeds and masks

What kind of messages “Domina” spreads in the patch notes?

Like the side PC gamers writes, things started to get weird in May 2022. In the patch notes for version 1.2.89 beta, the developer wrote in a footnote (via steam):

Some men don’t want to fight. you are weak […] Strong moral armor is difficult to obtain. It’s earned through hard work and sacrifice, it doesn’t come through Onlyfans or Pornhub. no These shitty things are demonic possessions waiting to show you succubus boobs hoping you’ll waste your seed […]

In the patch notes for v 1.3.18 you could read a few lines about how the game was improved (via steam):

Take off the fucking masks! Next time you’re in a grocery store, try showing your face to a woman. Be confident, fearless of THE LIES.

Conflict with Steam escalated

Now how did that escalate? Apparently, the developer not only lets his opinions flow into the patch notes, but is also active in the game’s community hub, where many are now upset about him and his views. But the man does not seem to deal well with the criticism of his views.

This apparently leads to an escalating conflict:

He writes these messages in the patch notes
Users write negative Steam reviews for Domina
The developer then marks these reviews as fraudulent
However, Steam moderators are withdrawing this flag
The developer gets really upset about this

In an Aug. 6 post, the developer even announced, furious at Steam’s handling of him, that it’s “doubtful” Domina will receive any more updates through Steam. If this upsets people, they should contact Gabe Newell.

“His ship would sink and he “wouldn’t give a shit.”

There are some people who support the developer in his views – the criticism of masks in particular is good for some. Others, however, openly make fun of the man.

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Steam bans developers, clearly threatens to be kicked out of Steam

This is the escalation now: As the developer behind Domina writes himself, he has now been banned from his own game’s hub. It was the second time he had violated the community guidelines, specifically “flaming another user”.

He also acts “abusively” against people he bans from his hub. If he continues to break the rules, it could “endanger our business relationship,” Valve wrote to him.

In general, he should stop taking back decisions made by Steam moderators.

So the moderators of Stream threaten him quite clearly with throwing him and his game out of Steam.